Coachella Valley coronavirus news and info | Tuesday, June 30

(?: Sharon Calcagno)

Cactus Hugs has been tracking local stories about the coronavirus.   For a rundown of all of our updates, click here. Stay safe, stay at a good social distance. Thank you for your continued support of Cactus Hugs. For ways to keep this website going (and free!), click here.

As of 3 pm Tuesday, Riverside County officials have confirmed:

  • 17,296 people have officially tested positive for COVID-19.  662 people have been reported positive in the last 24 hours.
  • 457 people are confirmed to have died in the county from the coronavirus. This number includes a stunning 17 people reported dead in the last 24 hours.

Here’s the latest from the Coachella Valley:

As of 3 pm Tuesday, San Bernardino County has confirmed:

  • 12,550 people have officially tested positive for COVID-19.
  • 253 people are confirmed to have died in the county from the coronavirus.

As of 4 pm Tuesday, the State of California has confirmed:

  • 230,914 people have official tested positive for COVID-19.
  • 6,077 people are confirmed to have died in the state of CA from the coronavirus.


Dr. Anthony Fauci testified to congress on Tuesday and offered a grim warning about the spread of coronavirus in the United States:

 

As the state sees a surge in COVID-19 cases, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Tuesday that he plans to “tighten things up” ahead of a busy Fourth of July weekend. He didn’t get into details, but said that public health orders will be “in relationship to indoor vs. outdoor activities” – as health experts have found that there is far less of a chance of spreading the virus outside as opposed to indoors.

Riverside County’s ICU bed utilization is currently above 90 percent.  With so many patients, medical workers are finding themselves overworked. “Being sure that we acknowledge the fact that our own staff are also community members, so some of them may become exposed or get ill outside of the hospital and that takes them outside of our staffing poo,” Eisenhower’s Chief Medical Officer told KESQ. “Others are just getting tired and warn out so asking them to do extra shifts is really difficult when they’ve already been putting such a concerted effort for so long a period of time in in order to care for the patients.”

Riverside County’s public health officer shared the current state of the county’s hospitals, with Tuesday’s ICU utilization down from Monday:

He also warned that Riverside County has lost any progress it made taking on the coronavirus. “We are now at the point where our hospitalizations and ICU rates are higher than they have ever been previously during this pandemic, which has erased all of our gains and the curve is no longer flat,” Dr. Cameron Kaiser told county supervisors. He also defended his move to follow the governor’s order to close bars and pubs as cases begin to “climb substantially” several days after county bars and other businesses were cleared to reopen June 12.

CNN profiles Ahmad Ayyad who was very fit before coming down with the virus. Now a COVID-19 survivor, he lost 60 pounds after doctors placed him in an induced coma for 25 days:

A Southern California casino has reopened its buffet, which is surprising as, you know, there is a virus being spread around and buffets sure seem like an easy place for it to spread:

Don't miss out on our all new All-You-Can-Eat Buffet Dinner starting Monday – Sunday, 4:00pm – 8:30pm. Savor crab legs,…

Posted by Valley View Casino & Hotel on Monday, June 29, 2020

A report from Goldman Sachs shows that a national mask mandate could potentially slash coronavirus infections in the US and save the country from a 5% hit to its gross domestic product. “We find that face masks are associated with significantly better coronavirus outcomes,” says the report. The team behind the study that face mask use lowered infection growth rates and death rates.  Bottom line: not only does wearing a mask help save lives, it helps save the economy.  So, umm, there really isn’t any reason why everyone who can shouldn’t be doing it.

Finally…

Thank you for your continued support of Cactus Hugs.

These are stressful times for all of us. Coping with stress will make you, the people you care about, and our desert community stronger. This link has some resources to help with coping and also numbers to call or text if you, or someone you know, feels overwhelmed.

Please, take care of yourself and each other. You are important. You are valued. You are loved. ??

Anything we missed? Let us know about it.